News of Note

Income Tax Severed Letters 21 January 2026

This morning's release of 11 severed letters from the Income Tax Rulings Directorate is now available for your viewing.

The “suspended dividend” rule in proposed s. 129(1.3) can operate anomalously

Here is an example of the rule’s operation:

An individual (X) wholly-owns Holdco, (with a December 31 year end), which wholly-owns Investco (with a November 30 year-end). In its November 30, 2026 taxation year, Investco earns $100,000 of rental income, resulting in $30,667 being added to its non-eligible refundable dividend tax on hand (NERDTOH) balance. On November 30, 2026, it pays an $80,000 non-eligible taxable dividend to Holdco. On March 31, 2027, Holdco pays an $80,000 taxable dividend to X and utilizes its GRIP balance to designate $30,000 of that amount as an eligible dividend. Both Investco and Holdco have balance-due dates (BDDs) two months after their year-ends.

S. 129(1.3) denies Investco’s November 30, 2026, RDTOH refund because the payee, Holdco, is an affiliated private corporation with a BDD after Investco's BDD. However, the $80,000 taxable dividend paid by Holdco on March 31, 2027, will allow Investco to recover its “suspended” $30,667 NERDTOH in that subsequent year.

S. 129(1.32) does not distinguish between an eligible and non-eligible taxable dividend paid by the payee, so that this NERDTOH refund occurs even though Holdco's dividend is partly an eligible dividend – so that there is a more favourable result than if no “suspension” had occurred.

Untoward consequences include:

  • A suspended dividend appears to be permanently forfeited if any taxpayer other than the payer relies on a dividend paid by the payee to obtain an RDTOH refund. For example, if Holdco received a $100 ERDTOH refund for its December 31, 2027, taxation year because it paid the $80,000 taxable dividend to X on March 31, 2027, this seemingly would permanently disqualify Investco's entire $80,000 “suspended” dividend from generating a future refund .
  • If the dividend payer corporation experiences a loss restriction event after its dividend has been suspended, s. 129(1.32)(a)(i) prevents any subsequent de-suspension.
  • In light of Vefghi, where the payer corporation and the beneficiary corporation have aligned but non-calendar year-ends, dividend suspension may still apply by virtue of the dividend being recognized in the beneficiary's subsequent taxation year.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Kenneth Keung and Taylor Greening, “Suspended dividend and denied RDTOH refund under new subsection 129(1.3),” Tax for the Owner-Manager, Vol. 26, No. 1, January 2026, p. 2 under s. 129(1.3).

Ingredion – Tax Court of Canada finds that a proposed Crown pleading that an arm’s length interest rate would be nil was “untenable”

The Minister considered that the cross-border “hybrid instrument” structure at issue should be recharacterized as an equity investment in the taxpayer by its U.S. parent, and reassessed and pleaded accordingly based on ss. 247(2)(b) and (d).

The Minister now sought leave to amend such pleadings to state that, to the extent the parties dealing at arm's length would have entered into the transactions (which was denied), at all times the arm's length rate of interest for the money that the taxpayer borrowed from its U.S. parent as part of the series was 0%, so that the interest actually charged should be denied pursuant to ss. 247(2)(a) and (c).

In refusing such amendment, Sorensen J stated:

[I]n an environment in which annual inflation is greater than zero and Treasury Bills offer even negligible yields, the idea of handing $300M to an arm’s length party in a business-to-business transaction with nil interest is untenable. …. [B]aldly pleading an untenable fact does not meet the threshold for amending a pleading.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Ingredion Canada Corporation v. The King, 2026 TCC 3 under s. 247(2)(c).

We have translated 6 more CRA interpretations

We have translated a further 6 CRA interpretations released in December of 1999. Their descriptors and links appear below.

These are additions to our set of 3,448 full-text translations of French-language Technical Interpretation and Roundtable items (plus some ruling letters) of the Income Tax Rulings Directorate, which covers all of the last 26 years of releases of such items by the Directorate. These translations are subject to our paywall (applicable after the 5th of each month).

Bundle Date Translated severed letter Summaries under Summary descriptor
1999-12-10 4 June 1999 Internal T.I. 9913100 F - APPLICATION 40(2)G)(II), 20(1)C) ET 18(1)A) Income Tax Act - Section 18 - Subsection 18(1) - Paragraph 18(1)(a) - Income-Producing Purpose s. 18(1)(a) can deny an expense not incurred in an activity with a reasonable expectation of profit even where s. 12 specifically requires inclusion of the smaller gross income
Income Tax Act - Section 12 - Subsection 12(1) - Paragraph 12(1)(c) s. 12 requires the recognition of income even where the associated expenses were not incurred for profit
4 June 1999 Internal T.I. 9913120 F - APPLICATION DE 20(1)F) Income Tax Act - Section 20 - Subsection 20(1) - Paragraph 20(1)(f) redemption proceeds of stock option were deductible under s. 20(1)(f)
29 June 1999 Internal T.I. 9913180 F - AFFACTURAGE Income Tax Act - Section 9 - Capital Gain vs. Profit - Debt/ receivables sale of trade receivables to securitization vehicle generally on income account
24 June 1999 Internal T.I. 9913420 F - BFT- HONORAIRE DE GESTION Income Tax Regulations - Regulation 5202 - Cost of Labour cost of labour included only the salary component of managementco fees
24 June 1999 Internal T.I. 9913480 F - BIA REGROUPEMENT D'ENTREPRISE Income Tax Regulations - Schedules - Schedule II - Class 14.1 fees incurred in acquiring a similar business may be eligible capital expenditures
5 November 1999 External T.I. 9830055 F - DIVIDENDE EN ACTIONS Income Tax Act - Section 74.4 - Subsection 74.4(2) - Paragraph 74.4(2)(f) amount of stock dividend for s. 74.4(4)(f) purposes is the PUC increase

CRA publishes the 9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable

CRA has published the final version of the 9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable, along with two of the items (Q.8 and Q.9) from the 9 October 2024 APFF Financial Planning Roundtable. There were essentially no changes from the provisional answers given in October other than that, in the case of Q.9 of the regular APFF Roundtable, CRA noted that in order for shares of the Opco in that question to qualify as having QSBC shares, those shares could not be owned exclusively by Holdcos, so that CRA assumed that at least one share was owned directly by an individual.

For convenience, the table below links to these Roundtable items and the summaries which we prepared in October.

Summaries under Descriptor
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 1, 2025-1071431C6 - Capital dividend and inclusion rate for 2024 Income Tax Act - Section 220 - Subsection 220(3.1) CRA does not have the power to waive tax, e.g., Pt. III tax
Income Tax Act - Section 184 - Subsection 184(3) CRA cannot cancel Part III tax payable as a result of the CGIR being maintained at ½
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 2, 2025-1071611C6 - Application ou non des paragraphes 227(8) et 227(9) L.I.R Subsections 227(8), 227(9) and 162(7) Income Tax Act - Section 227 - Subsection 227(9) s. 227(9) inapplicable where no withholding (and also where there was no obligation to withhold pursuant to s. 227(8.5)(a)
Income Tax Act - Section 227 - Subsection 227(8.3) - Paragraph 227(8.3)(b) interest accrued under s. 227(8.3)(b) between date of s. 214(16)(a) deemed dividend and remittance of Part XIII tax
Income Tax Act - Section 227 - Subsection 227(8.5) - Paragraph 227(8.5)(a) no penalty under s. 227(9) for failure to withhold or remit Pt. XIII tax on a s. 214(16)(a) deemed dividend because time required to apply s. 18(4)
Income Tax Act - Section 162 - Subsection 162(7) no penalty under s. 162(7) for failure to withhold or remit Pt. XIII tax on an s. 214(16)(a) deemed dividend
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 3, 2025-1071581C6 F - Fusion et actions admissibles de petite entreprise Income Tax Act - Section 87 - Subsection 87(2) - Paragraph 87(2)(a) an amalgamation of Acquireco with Targetco should be treated notwithstanding s. 87(2)(a) as being sequenced after the Targetco acquisition
Income Tax Act - Section 256 - Subsection 256(9) acquisition of CCPC for SBC purposes occurs at its actual time irrespective of s. 256(9)
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 4, 2025-1071461C6 - Méthode estimative pour acompte provisionnel et décès : comment se calculent les intérêts Income Tax Act - Section 220 - Subsection 220(3.1) CRA may relieve interest on deficient or insufficient pre-death instalments
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 5, 2025-1071471C6 F - Déduction pour la mobilité de la main-d’œuvre pour les gens de métier – Frais de réinstallation temporaire Income Tax Act - Section 8 - Subsection 8(1) - Paragraph 8(1)(t) excess of relocation expenses over allowance received was deductible
Income Tax Act - Section 8 - Subsection 8(14) - Paragraph 8(14)(e) - Subparagraph 8(14)(e)(iii) s. 8(14)(e)(iii) does not preclude deduction for the excess of the relocation expense over a non-taxable allowance received
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 6, 2025-1071481C6 F - Transfert intergénérationnel d’entreprise – entité pertinente du groupe Income Tax Act - Section 84.1 - Subsection 84.1(2.32) - Paragraph 84.1(2.32)(a) no prohibition against the use of the intergenerational transfer rules on a simultaneous sale of 2 QSBCS corps (one a specified group entity) to a childco
Income Tax Act - Section 84.1 - Subsection 84.1(2.31) - Paragraph 84.1(2.31)(a) simultaneous sale of QSBCS of an Opco and a Realtyco specified group entity to a childco could satisfy s. 84.1(2.31)(a) or (2.32)(a)
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 7, 2025-1071491C6 F - Application de l’article 80 L.I.R. et réduction du prix de base rajusté General Concepts - Payment & Receipt Quebec debtor has the right to determine which advance a repayment should be applied to
Income Tax Act - Section 47 - Subsection 47(1) the amount of capital gain realized on the partial repayment of two advances with low and full basis turned on whether they were separate properties and how the debtor applied the repayment
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 8, 2025-1071501C6 - Application des nouvelles positions de l’ARC concernant le paragraphe 55(2) L.I.R. Income Tax Act - Section 55 - Subsection 55(2.1) - Paragraph 55(2.1)(c) most (e.g., calendar-year) corporations should continue to use the old (pre-Update) CRA positions in computing safe income for 2023 and prior taxation years
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 9, 2025-1071511C6 F - Le sous-alinéa 55(5)e)(i) L.I.R. Income Tax Act - Section 110.6 - Subsection 110.6(1) - Qualified Small Business Corporation Share - Paragraph (a) must be direct ownership of a share of the corp by an individual or a related partnership
Income Tax Act - Section 55 - Subsection 55(5) - Paragraph 55(5)(e) - Subparagraph 55(5)(e)(i) QSBCS exception to s. 55(5)(e)(i) applied to the repurchase of QSBCS held by a sibling’s Holdco simultaneously with the repurchase of the other sibling’s Holdco’s non-QSBCS
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 10, 2025-1071591C6 - Application du paragraphe 220(4.5) L.I.R. à l’impôt minimum de remplacement causé par la disposition réputée prévue à l’alinéa 128.1(4)b) L.I.R.SECTION 127.5; 127.51; 127.52; 128.1(4)(b); 220(4.5) Income Tax Act - Section 128.1 - Subsection 128.1(4) - Paragraph 128.1(4)(b) gain under s. 128.1(4)(b) can produce AMT
Income Tax Act - Section 220 - Subsection 220(4.5) - Paragraph 220(4.5)(a) - Subparagraph 220(4.5)(a)(i) departure tax deferral under s. 220(4.5)(a)(i) is available for AMT payable because of s. 128.1(4)(b)
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 11, 2025-1071521C6 - Validity of a CDA election Income Tax Act - Section 83 - Subsection 83(2) a valid s. 83(2) election and the accompanying resolution must specify a dollar amount
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 12, 2025-1071531C6 F - Confirmer le traitement fiscal des Simple Agreement for Future Equity Income Tax Act - Section 12 - Subsection 12(11) - Investment Contract conditional contractual obligation to issue shares likely was not a bond, debenture or note
Income Tax Act - Section 49.1 conversion of a SAFE into equity might not be a disposition by virtue of s. 49.1
Income Tax Act - Section 51 - Subsection 51(1) SAFE likely is not a share, or a bond, debenture or note
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 13, 2025-1071541C6 - Irrégularité dans le calcul des pénalités lorsqu’un choix doit être produit Statutory Interpretation - Interpretation Act - Section 28 February 28 to March 31 is one month
Income Tax Act - Section 85 - Subsection 85(8) there is only one penalty month if an election due on February 28 was filed on or before March 31 of the following month
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 14, 2025-1071601C6 F - Actif utilisé principalement dans une entreprise exploitée activement (« EEA ») Income Tax Act - Section 110.6 - Subsection 110.6(1) - Qualified Small Business Corporation Share - Paragraph (c) - Subparagraph (c)(i) the equivalence of cash held to future years’ expenses is insufficient to establish that such cash was used in the business
9 October 2025 APFF Roundtable Q. 15, 2025-1071571C6 F - Transfert intergénérationnel d’entreprise et transfert de la gestion Income Tax Act - Section 84.1 - Subsection 84.1(2.31) - Paragraph 84.1(2.31)(g) - Subparagraph 84.1(2.31)(g)(i) s. 84.1(2.31)(g)(i) accommodates a transfer of management (including part management) by a parent to both a child and a 3rd party
9 October 2025 APFF Financial Planning Roundtable Q. 8, 2025-1071561C6 F - Revente précipitée et date de disposition Income Tax Act - Section 12 - Subsection 12(13) - Paragraph 12(13)(b) deferring the date of disposition of a housing unit to well after the sale date and 366 days after the acquisition date would avoid the flipped property rules
9 October 2025 APFF Financial Planning Roundtable Q. 9, 2025-1071451C6 F - Règle sur les reventes précipitées et location à court terme Income Tax Act - Section 12 - Subsection 12(13) - Paragraph 12(13)(a) “housing unit” is restricted to a single housing unit
Income Tax Act - Section 67.7 - Subsection 67.7(1) - Residential Property a room or a basement can qualify as a “residential property”

Premier Fasteners – Tax Court of Canada notes that CRA can use the s. 152(7) alternative assessment approach at any time

While auditing the 2013 and 2014 taxation years of the taxpayer, CRA repeatedly asked for supporting accounting documentation, to no avail. It then issued a requirement to RBC for the taxpayer’s bank statements, and used them to perform a bank deposit analysis. It then reassessed the taxpayer pursuant to s. 152(7), based on the results of that analysis by inter alia adding unreported revenue of $1.8 million and $4.6 million for the 2013 and 2014 taxation years, respectively.

Before finding that the bank deposit analysis as performed was reliable and not fundamentally flawed, and largely affirming the reassessments insofar as they related to understated revenue, Derksen J stated (at para. 28):

[S.] 152(7) does not require that the taxpayer’s records be inadequate before the Minister can rely on an alternative assessment technique. Thus, the Court does not have to be satisfied that it was necessary for the Minister to use an alternative assessment technique. The Minister can use an alternative assessment technique at any time regardless of the state of the taxpayer’s records … .

Gross negligence penalties were also sustained, given that it should have been evident that the bookkeeper was not able to handle the workload.

Neal Armstrong. Summaries of Premier Fasteners Inc. v. The King, 2026 TCC 2 under s. 152(7), s. 163(2) and s. 261(1) – relevant spot rate.

CRA amends its amalgamation Folio to discuss the EIFEL rules

CRA has published a revised version of its Folio on amalgamations that reflects the interaction of the amalgamation rules with the EIFEL rules. Observations include:

  • S. 87(2.1)(a.1) provides that the amalgamated corporation is a continuation of its predecessors for purposes of computing its cumulative unused excess capacity (CUEC).
  • However, pursuant to s. 111(5.01), the CUEC of a taxpayer for any taxation year ending after a loss restriction event is determined without regard to component elements in the CUEC computation that occurred in taxation years ending before that time.
  • The rule in s. 87(2.1), permitting the amalgamated corporation to deduct various types of losses of predecessors, also applies to restricted interest and financing expenses (RIFE).
  • However, the loss streaming and denial rules in ss. 111(4) to (5.4) are also applicable to RIFE on an acquisition of control, which is to be tested on an amalgamation under the s. 256(7)(b) rules.

Neal Armstrong. 49 summaries of Income Tax Folio S4-F7-C1, Amalgamations of Canadian Corporations, dated January 8, 2026 including under s. 87(2.1)(a.1), s. 111(5.01), s. 87(2.1) and s. 111(5).

Chuang – BC Court of Appeal finds that the foreign buyer’s tax applies to all of the purchase price of a Canadian who acquires in part for a non-resident beneficiary

Ms. Hsia, a Canadian citizen, and her fiancé, Mr. Chuang, a foreign national, bought a residential property in a “specified area” (i.e., subject to the foreign buyer’s tax) of B.C. Mr. Chuang contributed 40% of the purchase price but registered a 5% interest on title, while Ms. Hsia registered the remaining 95% interest and her mother contributed 60% of the purchase price.

The additional transfer tax (“ATT”) imposed pursuant to the Property Transfer Tax Act (B.C.) (the “PTTA”) was paid based on 5% of the declared fair market value of the property. The Chambers Judge concluded that, by operation of law (i.e., resulting trust), Ms. Hsia held a substantial portion of her registered 95% interest in trust for Mr. Chuang.

On this basis, Fleming, J.A. concluded that ATT had been correctly assessed on the FMV of the property. In particular:

  • Ms. Hsia was a “taxable trustee” under the s. 2.01 definition, i.e., although she was not a foreign entity herself, she was the trustee of a resulting trust for a “foreign entity” (Mr. Chuang), who held a beneficial interest in the residential property to which the transaction related; and
  • accordingly, s. 2.02(5)(a) applied, which provided that the ATT was to be calculated on the (total) transaction FMV where each transferee was a foreign entity or a taxable trustee.

Fleming, J.A., indicated that thus the “legislature expressly contemplates a Canadian transferee being liable for the additional transfer tax as a taxable trustee”, i.e., “the definition of a ‘taxable trustee’ captures both a foreign entity and a Canadian entity holding some interest in property in trust for a foreign entity”.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Chuang v. British Columbia, 2026 BCCA 10 under Property Transfer Tax Act (B.C.), s. 2.02(5)(a).

Income Tax Severed Letters 14 January 2026

This morning's release of 17 severed letters from the Income Tax Rulings Directorate is now available for your viewing.

Royal Credit Services – Ontario Divisional Court finds that the Ontario-Quebec MOU does not apply to inconsistent methods for interprovincially allocating income as filed by the taxpayer

In its 2011 returns, Royal Credit treated itself as a loan corporation (as described in Reg. 405 of the federal ITA Regulations) in its Quebec returns, and as a general corporation (as described in Reg. 402 of such Regulations) for Ontario purposes. As a result, a higher portion of its income was allocated to Quebec for Quebec income tax purposes than was allocated to Quebec for Ontario income tax purposes.

It sought to have CRA (in its capacity of agent for the Ontario Minister of Finance) resolve this double taxation issue at the intergovernmental level by initiating negotiations under the interprovincial MOU. CRA refused.

In denying this application for judicial review of that decision, Charney J found (consistent with the CRA and ARQ view) that the MOU relevantly only dealt with the situation where one province was “proposing to change the application of the allocation formula used by a taxpayer,” whereas here, neither province was proposing to change the allocation formula that the taxpayer had applied for each province.

In passing, Charney J noted that Royal Credit had recently brought a successful proceeding in the Quebec Superior Court for judicial review of the refusal of the ARQ to switch Royal Credit over to the Reg. 402 general corporation method for its 2011 taxation year, with the result that the ARQ was now required to reconsider that request.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Royal Credit Services Inc. v. Ontario (Minister of Finance), 2026 ONSC 115 under Reg. 402.